Hopeless situations

[darwinrlo]

We must track and mitigate the number of people in hopeless situations.

[darwinrlo]

What is the distribution of hope around the world? What minimum level of hope must be met lest someone drift into depression?

(Depression leads to a positive feedback loop.)

[ellislau]

Do you have additional context for this topic? Is this more about generally improving global societal welfare or about countering future possibilities of societal unrest? There's a lot of different angles to look at this from.

"Distribution of hope" is a fascinating phrase, not least because of the implication that, while not zero-sum, government policies and technological advancement often redistribute hope from one demographic to another. We could probably talk about average and median hope levels or about socialist policies and safety nets.

Hope is psychological. It's having one's needs satisfied, and it's relationships with people. https://www.quora.com/What-alternatives-are-there-to-Maslows-Hierarchy-of-Needs. It could be as much about having neighborhood clubs and programs as it is about economic opportunity. Many things have been said comparing individualistic cultures like the U.S. with collectivist cultures like China or Japan, http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Collectivist_and_individualist_cultures, that I would think have a strong impact on hope levels.

Hope is probably relative and cyclical. It's not so much the absence of hardship as it is the possibility of recovering from inevitable hardship.

[darwinrlo]

Do you have additional context for this topic? Is this more about generally improving global societal welfare or about countering future possibilities of societal unrest?

What sparked this was the realization that it is unreasonable to expect someone in desperate or hopeless circumstances to follow the rules, including immigration law.

Hope is probably relative and cyclical. It's not so much the absence of hardship as it is the possibility of recovering from inevitable hardship.

Agreed. It is definitely relative. Consider how Facebook and Google employees adjust their baseline expectations and become both bored and less appreciative of the amenities that are at their disposal.

Something I am wondering: What would be a reasonable baseline for the majority of people? I actually think most humans need to overcome hardship in order to feel fulfilled so the baseline may not be as high as one might think.

I do think the baseline should rise over time.

[ellislau]

I think the idea of a "baseline [of hope] for a majority of people" might be assessed with proxies that relate to hopeless situations:

• crime rates and suicide rates
• poverty levels and income inequality - https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/06/07/the-stark-relationship-between-income-inequality-and-crime
• levels and types of (un)employment

And maybe:

• political corruption, which is a power inequality that could have similarities to income inequality

I actually think most humans need to overcome hardship in order to feel fulfilled so the baseline may not be as high as one might think.

Not sure if this is conflating hope with fulfillment. I would posit that the most important thing missing in a hopeless situation is physical and financial safety. The problems of depression and fulfillment may already be a step above the baseline, and I think meaningful social relationships might be the most important factor for improving those. This is pretty much in line with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which while not a perfect model, I think it should work well as an abstraction applied to a whole population.